


i'd suffer hell if you'd tell me

by fairyy



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, M/M, demon!phil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26817916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairyy/pseuds/fairyy
Summary: Dan doesn’t mean to sell his soul, he really doesn’t.The demon's name is Phil.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 10
Kudos: 31
Collections: Im-PROMPT-u Phandom Creator Challenge 2020





	i'd suffer hell if you'd tell me

**Author's Note:**

> title from dinner & diatribes by hozier.
> 
> thank you to yani for betaing.

Dan doesn’t mean to sell his soul, he really doesn’t. 

He’s on his last straw, revising for a law test he  _ knows _ he’s going to fail. He’s been in the library for five hours now, and he’s starting to get hungry. This is not what he wants to be doing with his life.

He’s in full ‘fuck this’ mode, and humor is the best way to cope, obviously, so he says “God, I would sell my soul to get out of law.”

The librarian shushes him. 

He doesn’t mean to  _ actually _ summon a demon. 

-

The demon’s name is Phil.

Dan swallows. “Is that really your name? I’d think demons would have creepier names.” He covers his mouth with his hand quickly. 

The demon, Phil, shrugs. “It’s close enough.”

“What do you want from me?”

“Your soul, obviously.”

“Yes, I got that. But  _ why _ ? I’m pretty sure souls aren’t even real.”

“Did you think demons were real?” Phil asks. 

“I mean… no?”

“Well, here I am.”

Dan stares at Phil. He really is attractive, even if the horns are a little off putting. It  _ should  _ be off putting. His iridescent pale skin contrasts starkly against his deep black hair, but Dan finds himself being drawn in. 

Dan shakes his head. “I never get any sleep anymore. Fuck, this has to be a hallucination.”

Phil pulls out the empty chair at the table Dan’s sitting out. He touches Dan’s arm, which sends a shiver down his spine. 

Phil smirks. “I feel pretty real, don’t you think.”

Dan gapes at him. He nods. 

“Can we get out of here?” Phil asks. “It’s probably better if we discuss this… elsewhere.”

“Oh, yeah. Um. Sure. Here, let me get my things,” Dan says, hastily gathering up his laptop and books. 

-

“Can other people see you?” Dan asks when they get outside. 

Phil waves his hand around. His horns disappear. 

He smiles. “Now they can.”

“Um. Alright.” 

“Where do you live?” Phil asks, brushing Dan’s upper arm. 

“Why do you want to know?” Dan crosses his arms over his chest protectively. This is such a bad idea. 

Phil shrugs. “If I’m getting your soul, I should see where you live, right?”

“I haven’t agreed to anything yet.”

“Okay. Can I still see?”

“I live in the halls,” Dan says, looking down at his feet. 

“Well come on then. Show me the way.”

-

Dan feels strangely exposed leading Phil back to his room. He’s still not convinced that Phil is real, even if his hand brushes Phil’s every so often. 

“Here we are. It’s fucking tiny- sorry about the mess…” Dan goes over to his bed to shove some dirty clothes in his hamper. Why is he even apologizing to this complete stranger, a demon at that? Everything about this should make him want to run away screaming. 

“It’s alright,” Phil says, and his voice is so warm. 

“What would this whole selling my soul thing entail?” Dan asks, waving a hand around. 

“I’d give you what you want. You asked to get out of your law program. I can do that, easy. In return, I just need your soul.” 

“Yeah, I got that, Jesus Christ. What does selling my soul even mean?”

Phil fidgets with his hands. It looks like a nervous tick. 

“It’s complicated. Technically, it would be mine to have, and I could do whatever I wanted with it. That’s not really my style, though.”

“What is your style?”

“I don’t want to hurt you, Dan. The whole demon thing isn’t ideal, I know, but it… it’s not what I want to be doing. We have to take people’s souls, Satan’s orders, but he doesn’t say how we have to go about doing it.”

Dan sits on his bed. “Satan is real? I’m so fucked up, of course I’d end up with a demon in my bedroom. Does that mean God is real?”

Phil shrugs. “That’s not really something I think too hard about.”

“What the actual fuck. Okay.” Dan buries his head in his hands. 

“Tell me what you want,” Phil says, sitting on the bed next to Dan. “If you want me to fuck off, I can do that. But just know, the option is there.”

“I don’t have anything to lose, really. My family hates me, and I haven’t made any friends yet. I’m failing my courses and I’m absolutely fucking miserable. And I… I’m tired of hiding.”

Phil looks him in the eyes. “What do you want, Dan.”

“I want whatever this is.” Dan takes a deep breath. “I’ll take it.”

-

Dan wakes up the next morning with his head feeling foggy. He blinks a few times, his eyes adjusting to the light. His arm brushes against something warm. 

Dan yelps. Phil is still here. He sits up quickly. 

“What the hell! I thought that was just a weird dream.”

“Dan,” Phil says, placing his hands on Dan’s shoulders. “Breathe.”

“I am breathing.”

“That’s good.”

“I sold my soul to the devil. Oh my god, I sold my fucking- "

“Not the devil, technically,” Phil says, flashing a cheeky smile. “I’m just a lowly demon.”

“Your horns are back.” Dan almost lifts his hand to touch one, but he stops himself. 

“They usually are, yes.”

“Do you have a tail?”

Phil laughs. “That’s classified information,” he quips, and he isn’t being entirely serious. 

“So. What happens now?”

-

Selling his soul isn’t what Dan thought it would be, not that it’s something he had given any real thought to before this whole ordeal. 

Instead, he sort of has a built in friend. He’s still studying law, he couldn’t bring himself to completely disappoint his parents yet, but he made Phil promise he would be able to get top marks. He has. His professors are impressed. 

Phil’s waiting outside of Dan’s last class of the day with a coffee in hand. 

“You brought me a caramel macchiato?” Dan asks, taking a sip. His stomach feels warm. 

“Yeah. I was bored, so I figured I would bring you one.”

Phil has been nothing but surprising in the few weeks since he’s taken Dan’s soul. 

Dan has discovered Phil’s immense love of sweets, and they both order caramel macchiatos. Phil stops to pet nearly every dog they see. The dogs absolutely love him, everyone does. Phil somehow makes people feel at ease. Dan doesn’t think he should be able to do that. If he thinks too hard about it, his head starts to hurt.

Phil gets anxious at little things and enjoys video games, even if he nearly always loses to Dan. 

As far as deals go, this has been a pretty good one. 

-

Dan drops out of law. That was always his plan, he realizes, whether he was passing his classes or not. That’s the whole reason Phil showed up in the first place. 

Phil never leaves. Dan asks him about it, once.

Phil looks hurt. “Do you want me to leave?”

“No, no, I just… assumed you would?”

“Well now that, you know, I have your soul and all, there’s nothing I really need to be doing for now. I like you, Dan. I like spending time with you.”

They move into a small apartment in the middle of Manchester, and slowly build a life together. 

They’re watching a horror film in the middle of October, Phil pressed close to Dan on the sofa. Dan thinks it’s hilarious that Phil is so obsessed with horror, in sort of a twisted way. 

Phil pulls back to look Dan in the eyes. 

“What?” Dan asks, soft. Phil’s eyes trace up and down his face. 

He closes his eyes and leans in for a kiss. 

Later that night, Phil breaks him apart and pieces him back together, so wonderfully gentle. Dan has never felt more whole. 

-

Phil turns out to be a wonderful boyfriend, the whole demon thing aside.

They fit together in a way Dan has never fit with anyone before. Dan sometimes thinks they’re soulmates, before laughing about it, because technically, Phil owns his soul. 

They hold hands in the street, and Dan isn’t afraid anymore. 

They spend most of their time inside, and Dan can’t believe he found someone as introverted as he is. Phil is his  _ person _ . Dan hopes he can have this for the rest of his life.

-

“I have to go back,” Phil says one day, completely out of the blue. 

“What?” Dan can’t be hearing this right. 

“They’ve summoned me. My time is up here. I have to, Dan. I’m so sorry.”

“You’re leaving me?”

“Come with me.”

“Do I have a choice?” 

“I would give you one.”

“Is that supposed to be nice?”

Phil sighs. “I’m so sorry, Dan,” he repeats. 

“What would even happen to me.”

“Dan. If you stay, I don’t think I can see you again.”

“What’s here for me? You’re the best part of my life.”

“Then come  _ with _ me. We could make you an honorary demon and everything,” Phil says, the corners of his mouth quirking up. “Hell isn’t so bad, I promise. We would have all the time in the world.”

“Why do you want me to?”

“Dan. I love you.”

“I… Can you even feel love.”

“Of course I can.”

Dan looks around the home they’ve made for themselves, little knick knacks and keepsakes, pictures in frames, their favorite movie posters. 

Dan swallows. “Okay.”

-

The ride down to hell is eerie. Every inch of Dan’s skin is screaming at him to stop, but he won’t. He made this choice. 

Phil holds his hand. He runs his thumb over Dan’s knuckles reassuringly. “You get used to it, I promise,” he whispers in Dan’s ear. 

Dan’s not sure he ever will. He’s never felt so cold. 

Everything is on fire. Phil’s eyes turn dark. Dan looks in a pool and sees his eyes have gone dark too. 

They walk hand in hand into the fire. Everything burns. 

Phil smiles. It’s so cold. 

“Welcome home, Dan.”

**Author's Note:**

> reblog on [tumblr](https://fairylocal.tumblr.com/post/631065808230055937/id-suffer-hell-if-youd-tell-me-ao3-t-16k-dan%20%E2%80%9Drel=).


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